Chirping in shell

[SarahIrl]

Not yet!!!!! Chick may well be another 12 hours or so yet. It's tiring work is already being done inside the egg before you can see the activity outside the egg. It's absorbing yolk, getting it's energy back from banging it's head against a wall (the shell) to get this far.

You should see some more action with the chick zipping soon enough, most probably while you are all asleep! My first ever pip occurred before I awoke in the morning and the chick hatched that afternoon, but I have no idea how long it took as I was asleep when it was going on! My dh thinks he heard the banging from the bedroom at about 4am though. They are really noisy so if you stay at your friend's house and sleep in the room with the incubator, trust me, you won't miss a thing. They cheep like crazy when they are getting round the egg shell to zip and go really loud when climbing out!

Now is the time to get your brooder up and running and checking temperature in it though, as your chicky won't stay for too long in a cardboard box incubator, especially if it's fairly small. About two hours is all I leave mine in for although most people here will shout at me for saying anything less than 24 hours.

 

[HamorHollow]

It's been 15 hours and the chick hasn't done anything to the egg. She's not peeping or moving much, but she is breathing. Is it time to interviene?

-a 'little beak movement' was just reported, but no cheeping for the past few hours and much less movement. I am sure the poor little thing is exhausted.

HELP!

Kelly

 

[loopy12]

Do you have other pips in there or just the one with the beak?
If you do, interfering will jeopardize the others. If not, I think, and its just an opinion, I'd intervene now - if the beak is visible in the pip for an extended time then the chick is not rotating to zip and is possibly stuck and the membranes will be drying out.

If you decide to intervene, take the egg out, wrap it in a wet warm cloth, wet the pip area gently and start to peel off shell to about a quarter of the egg size. Peel off membrane. Any sign of blood vessels or blood stop and put it back in the incubator in the damp cloth for another 2 hours before trying again. If no blood or vessels then peel slowly, wetting the membrane constantly and rewetting the cloth with warm water every 1-2 minutes or so - don't let it get cold. Peel until the head can unfurl. At this point I put them back in the incubator in the cloth to see if they an hatch themselves out. They normally do unless they are totally shrink wrapped.

Good luck!

 

[HamorHollow]

We have cracks and chips that just appeared, but the membrane beneath is still intact. I guess we will leave it be for a little while. Membrane looks dry, so we may interviene if progress doesn't continue.

Thanks for the explanation. There are 3 more eggs in the incubator......each a day younger then the next. (ya, well now we know they can all go in as a group and don't have to go in one at a time) No peeping or pipping on those yet, but they were candled and should be ready soon.

Chickens are a lot more fun then I ever expected, I am so hopelessly addicted to my flock! I want to add 2 Americanas to the gang so I can have some blue eggs! LOL

Kelly

 

[HamorHollow]

We have a baby chick! We gave her a tiny bit of help, but she did the majority of the work on her own. She's hanging out in the incubator and getting fluffy. Hopefully all goes well and we get some more eggs to hatch.

Thanks for all your help!

Kelly

 

[justtoni44]

Congratulations................really neat.
If you only have one hatch....you may want to purchase another so she has a friend...........
Otherwise she will be stressed and scream her little head off.

Mine have hatched as late as day 25 but this was in a regular incubater.
Good Luck

 

[wolftracks]

Quote:
ALRIGHT!

So happy it made it!

 

[HamorHollow]

There are 3 eggs still in the incubator, so we are hoping for another hatch. They each went in a day apart......I will know better if we ever try this again.

I'm thinking of adding 2 easter eggers/ americanas if I can find them. New Hampshire has a law where you have to purchase a minimum of 12 chicks, so I will have to look for a feed store in MA or a private seller that isn't too far away.

She (hopefully) is peeping her little head off already!

Kelly